Dying al Kiddush Hashem: Is Being Hated Really Necessary?

One of the tenets of many religions is that you may have to suffer pain, rejection and humiliation in order to be a disciple of that path. Judaism and Christianity both have the concept of martyrdom and in Judaism being killed for the sake of God is called "Dying al Kiddush Hashem."

I was taught early on that you might have to be tortured for the sake of religion when Chabad Lubavitch in Brooklyn initially educated me. In my Hebrew School on LI, NY at Suffolk Jewish Center, we never discussed the topic.

Jesus was killed and the Apostles all died by being crucified. At least the latter is what the book Twelve Ordinary Men by John M. MacArthur says. Christians are told to be joyful when they have to suffer for the privilege of being disciples of Jesus Christ. And the apostle Paul suffered all kinds of beatings and persecutions. I take it that he's made of sterner stuff than me.

I am still kvetching about some of the things I went through during my life, like the bedbugs in Yeshivat D'var Yerushalayim and the skin sore at Moshav Modi'in. It is not like me to suffer silently.

My maternal grandfather, Joseph Ross, had cancer and never complained once. He was bombarded with radiation treatments and suffered chemotherapy, which hurt him a lot.

Personally, I wouldn't be so quick to lay down my life and I am fed up with people putting me up to this. Having narrowly escaped death a few times, getting almost clobbered is becoming tiresome and trite.

One of the things that religion does is civilize and educate people. My old law professor at Long Island University, Dr. Bender, said many years ago, "religion binds people together." He was a devout Catholic and he was trying to facilitate my getting together with one of my female classmates (Never happened but the girl was hot! It was too bad it didn't work out). But religions also polarize people and make them line up on opposite sides.

I hope that one day, someone will create a new religion that will bring new peace as the song says. And hopefully, it'll be a good religion and not a cult. I long to see that day.

Right now, the world is in turmoil and bombs and bullets are going off all over the world. In the Middle Ages, the Crusaders fought the Moslems who were doing Jihad. It lasted 1 thousand years. It seems that we are headed back to the "good 'ol days." God forbid we will not be able to see peace again for another thousand years.

The suicide bombings happening in the Middle East, especially in Israel, Afghanistan and Iraq are also a case in point. They bombers think that they will die and go to heaven for their martyrdom. What would they think, if they were convinced that there is nothing after the life on this earth?

I remember reading in the newspaper some years ago, that a terrorist's mother was very upset that her child killed him or herself. The mother didn't even know the child was planning on strapping dynamite to their waist that day. If the martyr believed in "honor your mother and father," what would have they done instead of blowing themselves up?

A terrorist killed the son of Reuven Gilmore, Esh Kodesh Gilmore, when he was involved in giving out food to poor Arabs or guarding an installation that was doing that. He was martyred. Esh Kodesh was the first Israeli killed during the Intifada.

I know Reuven for almost 30 years. He was Big Reuven and I was Little Reuven in Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach's entourage. We were part of the Rabbis' chevera. It is so long ago and a lot has transpired since then.

Reuven made a letter to the President of the USA at the time asking to bring Yassir Arafat up on charges. It never came to pass. Arafat fought for a homeland for his people for years and was unsuccessful.

Arafat created the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. They still don't have a state.

My contention is that martyrdom is counterproductive to a cause. It pays to stall a person's death until the last possible minute.

One and one and one equals three (I am not talking about the doctrine of the Trinity here) and no one ever got shot over it. And this 3-way war between Judaism, Christianity and Islam is making God look terrible. There must be a better way than all this carnage and hatred.